Sign of Evanescence
by Daughter of the Darkness Flame
Summary: ...Tattered, disjointed images and sounds chased one another through his mind. He couldn't remember it. His name was gone... .hackSIGN AU fic, basically a remix of the series with one big difference: The World is real.
1. Welcome

This is an AU fic of .hack/SIGN. Meaning: The World is real. Literally. I think I saw someone else who came up with this idea, and it fascinated me. I want to try my own hand at it. I can't remember the penname off the top of my head (Sakura-something-or-other?), but I want to give him/her credit for originally coming up with the idea. I would like to hope that my own twist on it is worth reading.

Editing note: What the hell? All my bolded text (read: Morgana's speech) just randomly decided to delete itself! ARRRRRRRRGH! (starts weeping about 'her precious' and rubbing her cheek against the laptop) This has now been fixed, along with a few minor grammar errors that happened to pop out at me on my quick scan. I'm sorry for any confusion this might have caused. If you notice any other abnormalities or simply confusing places, PLEASE TELL ME! I can't fix them if I don't know about them, and I'm usually not vain enough that I reread through my work after its posted.

Additional notes added for clarification:

I am normal text.

"I am talking."

_I am a private thought._

_"I'm a telepathic conversation!"_

_(I'm a flashback)_

**_I am Morganna, puny mortals._**

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah, I don't own .hack. Really, if I did would I be writing fanfic for it? Let's think about the logistics of this and not sue, okay? Because I'm a broke college student who can't even scrape together enough quarters to get her laudury finished.

Warnings: Swearing and violence... and my general twistedness. Will probably deal with themes unsuited for small children later on. Although if you're allowing small children to read/watch/play .hack, you have problems. It's a great series, but I think you need a basic grounding in reality before you start questioning the meaning and nature of it, don't you agree?

* * *

Sign of Evanescence

(brought to you with much love and insanity by Daughter of the Darkness Flame)

First Chapter: Welcome(To the beginning of the rest of your life…)

_Ow._ That was the only thought going through his brain._Ow, __ow, __ow__…_ repeated in time with his shaky breathing and heartbeat that was gradually stumbling back into moderation. He probably laid there several more moments or half an eternity before he could do anything but concentrate on the pain.

He sat up slowly, groaning in counterpoint to the throbbing inside his skull as the room… it only _looked _like the belly of a monster, right?… gradually, painfully, came back into focus. Every bone and individual joint in his body felt like it was recovering from being slowly boiled.

"Ungh," he groaned, pressing a sticky hand to his skull to try and block out some of the agony. _Wait a minute… sticky?_ Odd, violet eyes blearily focused on his half-gloved hand that was covered in some sort of orangeish goop. _Huh. __Odd.__ Is this really the stomach of some sort of beast? Did I get eaten? Is that why I'm in so much pain? _Strangely, the thought of having been eaten caused him no anxiety or panic, so he discarded it. _Then… what the heck is this stuff, and where am I?_ Casting his eyes around the weirdly organic room his gaze eventually landed on an odd staff, the head shaped almost like a crescent moon with a red orb floating suspended by no force he could discern between both the points of the 'crescent'. _Mine! _his subconscious shouted at him, and so he shakily extended a hand to grasp it, using it as a prop to help him crawl to his feet. He proceeded to survey the room, trying to remember where the hell he was and how he'd gotten hurt so badly.

The ceiling was made up of red, flesh-like material stretched between what he hoped were only clever imitations of bones. The walls consisted of some sort of strange brown porous material, and the floor was a darker red variation of the substance that made up the ceiling. Was he really in some sort of monster's belly? _No, _he realized at last, looking ahead to see some sort of bizarre altar in a room made of brick. So, the rest of the place was just the result of some ancient culture with no taste in decorating. That was a relief.

_Wait. _The strangely glowing chest on the altar seemed to draw his gaze hypnotically. Something about the aquamarine diamonds on the cream background and the gold trimming flared in the back of his mind. He had seen this chest before. Somewhere, somehow, he had seen this chest before. So, how come the rest of the room was so utterly unfamiliar? Almost as if he were possessed, he took a hesitant, unwilling step closer to it, the butt of his staff coming up with a lazy grace like a movement in a dream…

"Huh? Someone else made it this far?"

He jerked, whirling around with his staff in a guard position, ready to fend off the unfamiliar female voice. He was confronted by a bronzed female mercenary, her entire top half almost completely exposed, complete with pale yellow stripes tattooed in strategic places to compliment her lean, athletic body. He felt a faint blush rise in his cheeks at her rather brazen attire. Didn't she have any idea how she looked, wearing nothing to cover her top half but a skimpy red metal chest guard? Wouldn't it make more sense to have more plating to protect her vital organs?

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked, seeming to be genuinely confused.

"I-I'm not staring!" he protested, already getting flustered.

"Well, sure, if you say you're not…" she replied, shooting him a suspicious look out of the corner of her blue eyes. "I'm Mimiru, by the way." She paused, clearly waiting for him to supply his name…

…and he couldn't remember it. Her own name seemed to echo in the epic silence, demanding his own in return. Tattered, disjointed images and sounds chased one another dizzily throughout his mind. He… couldn't remember…

"Is something the matter?" the mercenary, Mimiru asked. Somehow, she'd closed the distance between them without him even noticing. "You look even paler than I thought you did, are you hurt?" He took a clumsy half step backwards. _Can't remember… can't remember… who the hell am I? Why can't I remember? What happened to me?_ The stranger was leaning over, giving his staff a fascinated once-over with her eyes. "Wow, I almost never see a Wavemaster working alone! You must be really powerful to have gotten this far in the temple by yourself!" A sudden, chilling thought came to him. _Is she the one who did this to me? Did she steal my memory just so she could come back and trick me into helping her with her evil plan? _What sort of evil plan that would be, he didn't know and didn't want to find out. He had to get out of here, he had to get away…! "Hey, are you mute or something? Why won't you answer? Wait, a mute Wavemaster wouldn't be able to cast any spells, so you must be just ignoring me!" One of those flickers of memory coalesced into something more solid, and his hand plunged into his robes, pulling out a small instrument… _ocarina. It's called a Sprite Ocarina, _his memory supplied helpfully. And like the magic charm it was, a few hastily blown notes took him away in a shimmer of golden light.

* * *

"Ugh, rude little jerk. Even if he is all-powerful... which I doubt… that doesn't give him an excuse to treat everyone around him like trash!" Mimiru fumed, her blue eyes practically spitting sparks. "I can't STAND people who don't have any manners!" she shouted at the empty room, swinging her sword at the empty space where the nameless silver-haired Wavemaster had been standing a few moments before. Then, realizing how stupid she must look swinging her sword at empty air, the tension drained from her frame and her sword point clattered against the stone tile as she lowered it. The sound made her wince. Bear, her mentor (not quite master, their styles were too different for her to be his apprentice) would have scolded her for mistreating her weapon like that. "Heheh… oops. Oh well, at least that jerk left the treasure behind," she consoled herself, lifting her sword to tap it on the lid of the chest, to check for traps. She'd run out of Fortune Wire to disable traps earlier on (What kind of paranoid psychopaths had designed this temple anyway? EVERYTHING had been trapped, chests, doors, walls, floor tiles… the number of times she'd almost been killed getting this far…) Luckily, her sword was long enough that she _should_ be able to jump back to avoid any nastiness that had been enchanted on the lid. In theory. 

_Clang._ Nothing happened. Mimiru's breath caught. After the nightmare this temple had been, there was no way she could possibly be this lucky. Hesitantly, she leaned over and cracked open the lid to reveal…

A weird violet light started seeping out of the chest, enveloping the room in a miasmic fog. She screamed and started to run, but she tripped on an irregularity in the floor and a tendril of it snaked around her boot. Panicked, she went for the sprite Ocarina in her belt pouch, but when she pulled it out and put it to her lips it refused to produce a single sound. _Ugh, equipment failure now of all times?_ she groaned inwardly, trying to hack away at the mist with her sword. Of course that did nothing. It was mist. It didn't have anything to hack at. But she was desperate, and as the mist was crawling up her legs she was starting to lose sensation… "I hate you, brain," Mimiru choked out before she seceded to unconsciousness.

When she woke with a start, it was at the entrance of the temple, which had been carved to resemble a pile of rotting carcasses (Cute. Just adorable. Why had it seemed like a good idea to go inside, again?) By the mercy of some benevolent god, she was completely unhurt.

"Weirdest damned day of my entire life," she grumbled, grabbing her sword and using it to help her regain her feet. She was shaky, but other than that she seemed to be just-

**_The power within is not for you, _**a strange woman's voice echoed in her head when she was halfway to standing, causing her feet to slip out from underneath her, depositing her flat on her butt. **_Leave now and do not return. The power within belongs only to the one I have chosen… _**

"What the…? Who in the name of the Eight Spirits are you?" Mimiru shouted.

**_Leave, Heavy Blade. The power belongs to the one I have chosen… _**

**_…leave now… _**

**_…leave… _**

The voice faded into silence, leaving Mimiru completely dazed. She'd raided plenty of ancient temples for their holy relics before (there was no end to the things in their world) but never ever had something like this happened to her before. She scrabbled away in an awkward crab walk from the door before she scrambled to her feet and started to run away.

_...the hell?__ No, seriously, what the hell just happened? I feel sorry for the poor sucker who got chosen by whatever the hell that thing is…_

_The Wavemaster?_ She wondered, her mind flashing back to the dour, quiet boy she'd run into before the fog had eaten her for breakfast. _Nah, who would want __a jerk__ like him? But still… if he doesn't know, he might come back here… and with his bad attitude, he'll probably make it angry enough to kill him._

Her running slowed to a stop._ Oh great, now I have to try and find him, don't I? Because if I don't warn him nobody will, and if he dies I'll have that on my conscience. _Without thinking, she brought the sprite Ocarina to her lips and played the sequence that would bring her back to the town she'd been in last, forgetting it was broken. She remembered that it was the exact same time the yellow light took her...

She was shocked when she found herself standing in front of the Chaos gate, lazily revolving in a steady circle just outside the exit of the small town, a place at the peak of the mountains with bridges connecting all the shops and homes in one confusing mess. It was a good thing the wards protected it or this place would have been monster munch long ago…

She was back. The supposedly malfunctioning Ocarina had taken her exactly where she needed to be. That could only mean one thing… that voice, whatever it was, was capable of creating anti-teleportation fields, exactly like the Grand Wavemasters that served the Council of Altimit.

"I officially do not like this," she muttered, sheathing her sword and trotting off to check the city for one trouble-magnet Wavemaster, whose name she still didn't know.

* * *

The boy leaned against a well, watching a beetle crawl at his feet as the sky darkened towards twilight and the windmill creaked in the background. _What was I doing and where __am__ I now? _He wondered. He'd meandered the town since he'd arrived only to collapse here after a short time, panting for air like he had upon first awakening in… the mercenary had called it a temple, hadn't she. His stamina still hadn't recovered from whatever had happened to him but the pain was receding. His head almost felt normal again, and he felt that he was thinking more clearly. Clearly enough to regret running away from that girl. She could have at least told him where he was, even if she clearly didn't know who. She had seemed kind, in an annoyingly cheerful and obnoxious way. Like the sort of person who would have been willing to help a complete stranger who had no idea who he was or where he was going… 

_I've been _here _before too, _he acknowledged. It was maddening. Everything he'd seen since getting here tugged at the roiling mess inside his head, but nothing was shaking loose the way the sprite Ocarina had, and thinking about it too much made his head start to throb. Raking through the pockets of his robes had produced a few of the small round golden things that he'd seen the people exchanging for goods, maybe if he gave them to someone he could find a place to spend the night. Sleep might make him feel better, and maybe when he woke up he'd be able to remember something…

A clanking noise made him look up. Three armed figures were coming at him in the fading half light, swords drawn. The helmets they wore looked like skulls and gave their eyes an otherworldly glowing quality, and the one in the center, who seemed to be their leader, appeared to have horns. He scrambled to his feet, confused. What were they doing here? Why wasn't anyone screaming or calling for help? Was this normal, for monsters with swords to come into town and no one to do anything about it? And… _oh no, they're coming this way! _he realized, his staff coming instinctively to guard position and his whole body tensing up. He couldn't remember fighting, but it looked like he was going to have to figure it out soon…

Seeing his nervousness, the leader took his sword in both hands, holding it lengthwise across his body in a gesture of peace. Taking their cue from him, the other two flanking the horned one ground the points of their swords in the earth. "Peace and greetings, Wavemaster, we mean you no harm." He swallowed. Yeah, the demon could say that all it wanted, but as long as those glowing red eyes were boring into him he was _not_ putting down his staff. "We are the Thirteenth Squadron of the Crimson Knights, charged with keeping the peace in this world and protecting those who follow the law. I am sure you have heard of us."

Something flashed like lightning in the back of his mind, brief but brilliant and gone too quickly to capture. But enough of the afterimage remained for him to know that the man before him was probably telling the truth. He relaxed and lowered his staff slightly, but only slightly. He did not like that phrase about protecting 'those who follow the law'. What about those who didn't? Did this knight person think he'd done something wrong? What could he have done? He couldn't remember his own name, damnit, how could he have done something wrong in the hour or so that he'd been in this village? "We of the Crimson Knights value courage, civility, and tolerance," commented the lefthand flunky knight, seeing that he was still stiff as a board. The boy could almost hear capitals on 'courage' 'civility' and 'tolerance', like they were some sort of motto. Probably were, at that. "Our organization was created to help this world run smoothly." _Whatever the hell that means…_ "We are constantly keeping watch for those who go against the laws of the Council of Altimit." _Ugh, now that sounds ominous. So, what do the all important Knights want with little old me?_

"If you're looking for lawbreakers, I'm of no interest to you," the boy said coldly. These Knights, their attitude and appearance made him distinctly uneasy. All he wanted was for them to go the hell away. He hadn't done anything wrong, and he had three of them harassing him!

"Incorrect," the leader snapped, lowering his sword. The boy took an instinctive step backwards. "We are interested in all citizens of this world. Especially those with… questionable associates. A few days ago you were seen in the company of a strange creature, a catlike beast that walked upright like a man and wore clothing."

"I…" _have no idea what you're talking about and sincerely doubt that you'd believe me if I told you that, _he thought angrily to himself, but even as he did, he felt unsure. Something about this… felt familiar. Something… something was… "A… cat?" he muttered, and all of a sudden he could see it in his mind, a strange beast, white and purple with glowing red eyes and pointed ears that stuck up out of its pointed, scarecrow-esque hat, throwing out its arms and smiling at him. "Who's… that…?" The vision rippled and he shook his head violently with a little cry of pain, dispelling it. Sadly, that still left him with three demon-like knights staring at him in confusion.

"Do you take us for fools? You were seen in the presence of the creature," snarled left hand knight, the first to snap out of confusion. "Don't bother to deny it!"

"The creature is obviously the result of someone dabbling in magic that shouldn't be touched, and must be dealt with. We can't do that until we find it," right hand knight growled.

"We cannot ignore the creature. There's a possibility that it might be close enough to human for it to bypass the wards and enter one of the towns to attack civilians," lead knight implored, obviously trying to play the voice of reason. "However, we do not intend to cause you any trouble. All we need is the information, and then we'll be on our way."

"I…uh…"_ What do I do? I know even less about that thing then they do! Not that they'd believe me if I told them that. How am I going to get out of _this_ mess?_ he wondered, not doubting for a second that these Knight people would be harder to get rid of than that Mimiru girl from earlier.

"We need more information," lead knight implored. "What areas does this creature frequent? Is it capable of human speech? Have you seen it in the presence of any other humans? Or in relation to other monsters of its ilk?"

_I DON'T KNOW, DAMNIT! _he silently raged, wishing he had more than an image so he could get these idiots off his back. But… even if he could tell them something… what would they do to the cat when they found it?

_(…red eyes brightening, arms outstretched, and a smile blossoming on that furry face, whiskers twitching in anticipation…)_

"…no…"

All three knights stiffened. "What was that?" the leader asked incredulously, as if the word was in an alien language that he'd never encountered before.

"I said no, I don't know anything. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you," he snapped, throwing a hand into the air. And suddenly, the golden rings enveloped him and he was gone again. This time they took him to a glowing golden and pale blue tunnel, but only for a few brief moments before he was somewhere else, a city built defiantly at the very peaks of the mountaintops before a glowing blue gate revolving in a lazy circle.

_Chaos Gate, _his broken memory informed him. Whatever the hell that was. He noted that the time of day was different here, midafternoon instead of sunset. He wondered how far he'd traveled for the time to change so drastically. But that was alright. More distance meant more space between him and those damn knights.

"I have a goal now, mister knight," he said to himself. "I'm going to find that cat creature before you do, and I'm going to make it tell me who I am and why I can't remember anything. And then I'm going to make sure you can't kill it." After all, he could remember how happy it had been to see him. Surely something that wanted him there wasn't bad, right? Besides, it was the only face he _could_ remember. Hell, he couldn't remember his own. And he wasn't going to let that knight snuff out the only face he could remember. He wasn't.

Now, how to get back to the place where he'd first woken up…

The rings were his only warning, leaving him suddenly, inexplicably, face to face with Mimiru.

"Come on, idiot, we need to talk," she snapped, dragging him off by the collar of his vest before he had even half a chance to protest.

"He teleported. Inside a town without a sprite Ocarina, and nowhere near a Chaos Gate," left hand knight said numbly.

"What are we going to do about him, Captain?" the right hand knight asked.

"We will have to monitor him, but be cautious. It's clear he's no normal Wavemaster," their leader decided. "First, however, we must inform the Lady Subaru of this… _abnormality_." His companions nodded in agreement, following him to the Chaos Gate.

* * *

"So, do you always disappear in the middle of a conversation, or am I just special?" Mimiru asked rhetorically, trying to think of a way to start the conversation. 'I wasted the last three hours looking for you, jackass!' would probably just start another argument, and 'there's an evil voice that might be stalking you' would probably just net her a really strange look before he walked away and refused to talk to her ever again. "Um, that's really rude, by the way," she continued. Here she was, floundering for how to say what she needed to say and he wasn't even looking at her! "Hey, pay attention to people when they're talking to you!" she snapped, repressing the urge to poke him with the pointy part of her sword. 

No response. Wavemaster boy was, for all practical purposes, completely dead to the world, seemingly fixated on the bug that had landed on his staff to the exclusion of all else. "The silent treatment is getting really old, you know. I'm not going to go away just because you refuse to talk to me." He rolled away from her and started picking at a crack in the stone he was lying on, practically a sign that she should go away and mind her own damn business. She stubbornly ignored this and continued. "Look… about that place we were…"

He turned back to her, suddenly hanging on her every word. "Really? You know how I can get back there?"

"Eh… you could just start from Windfall Village and walk two days to the west, or just speak the words Rejecting Oblivious Wavemaster before the Chaos Gate. That's how I got there. I heard about it from a friend, but hearing just doesn't describe… the place is full to the brim with traps. I almost died in there! Not to mention that… well… hey, what's that goop on your robes?" she asked, her hands brushing against a patch of slime and coming away orange and sticky. "Yuck, what the hell is this stuff?" she asked, more fascinated than actually disgusted. It didn't look like any monster goop she'd seen before… the stuff smelled almost sweet… and she'd gotten distracted again. She had to warn him about going back to that…

_Well shit, _she realized. She'd just told him how to go back, the thing that she did _not _want him to do. Stupid, stupid Mimiru.

"Do you… do you know of any traps in there that would have caused amnesia?" he asked, so quiet that she almost didn't hear him.

"Huh? If I'd run into something like that, I doubt that I'd remember to tell you about it," she replied absently.

"Oh. Of course. Thank you," he said in a monotone, getting to his feet.

"Wait, where are you going?" she asked, with a horrible feeling that she already knew the answer.

"Wherever the words you gave me will take me," he replied absently.

"Hang on a second! The reason I was looking for you was to tell you _not _to go back there! Or did you not hear the part about the evil traps?"

"If I survived once, I'll survive again," he replied in what _must_ be the cockiest tone she'd ever heard.

"Damnit, you can't go back there because the voice is waiting for you!"

He stopped dead and turned back to face her. "The… voice? Like… a ghost or something?" Her mouth worked soundlessly as she tried to come up with a justification, something to make her sound a little less like she'd lost her mind. He laughed at her pathetic attempt to try and find a way to explain to him how much danger he was in. "You're a real pest, you know that?"

"Arrgh, get back here you jerk! I was serious! You… you're a damn pest too! AND you have no manners!" she shouted at his retreating back, shaking a fist at him. He just ignored her and kept heading back for the gate like a comdemned man mounting the gallows…

_Bad mental image, Mimiru,_ she scolded herself. "Hey, wait! Don't go there!" Wavemaster boy held up his staff and vanished. Of course, by this time she'd acquired an audience who probably thought she'd just had an argument with her boyfriend… "Bastard owes me money and just went someplace to get himself killed," she informed them, trying very hard not to blush. She failed. They dispersed with knowing glances and chuckles and a few mocking leers that almost made her wish for a cloak.

_Screw them, _she thought angrily. She'd dress however she damn well pleased, she was proud of her body, thank you very much. _Screw the idiot, nameless Wavemaster too. He can rot in that damn temple for all I care._

_Yeah right, _the other part of her brain commented. _Give it half an hour before you get worried and start looking for him._

She told that part of her brain exactly which level of hell it could go to. It laughed at her too.

* * *

_Damnit__, I said 'Raging' instead of 'Rejecting'! NOW where the hell am I! _He thought, grabbing a fistful of (silver?) hair and pulling on it as hard as he could in frustration. 'Where' appeared to be a desert dotted with tiny oases, about five feet around and only as deep as his waist. The one directly to his right was glowing. To him, it seemed like a happy, cheerful glowing that was mocking his frustration and his state of stickiness and his amnesia. With a growl, he picked up the nearest rock and hurled it in as hard as he could. It made a satisfying splashing sound, but that annoying glowing was still there. Before he could turn to get another rock, however, something about his size shaped like a water droplet formed in the air above the oasis. 

"Did you drop this golden ax?" it asked, in a voice that reminded him of Mimiru for some reason. Something about that annoyingly cheerful attitude that made him feel like hitting something. "Or was it this silver-"

"I don't know!" he shouted, taking a swipe at it. "Why the hell should I know?" another swipe. "Why does everyone-" Swipe. "keep asking-" Swipe. "me questions?" Swipe, swipe-

"Well, that wasn't very nice," the droplet sulked, just as the oasis exploded, sending water everywhere and leaving a confused, soping wet Wavemaster blinking owlishly in its wake. And then, as if the day couldn't get any worse, he heard the last thing he would ever want to hear besides those boorish knights shouting "Stop, lawbreaker!"

Laughter. Directed at him. He turned to see who had decided to make a mockery of him now.

"Heh, I do that all the time whenever I cross this desert. It gets beastishly hot here, doesn't it?" the man asked companionably. He was tall and well-muscled without looking like a complete giant, a giabt blue and white tatoo covering most of the upper half of his body. A single metal piece of armor was held onto the shoulder of his sword arm by a few leather straps, and he wore a sword strapped around his waist. The boy bristled. _Wonderful.__ Another complete stranger who expects me to know what he's talking…_

Hang on a second, the tattooed brute was right. It _was _warm here. It should have been uncomfortably warm, especially in his robes. He could tell that, but he couldn't feel it. He could feel the heat, it wasn't that. But it didn't bother him. Not in the slightest. That wasn't normal. Even with his memory a fragmented mess, he knew that that wasn't normal. What was going on with him? What the hell had happened? Had he lost something more important than his memory in this Rejecting Oblivious Wavemaster place?

"I'm Bear, by the way. If you're just starting out as a mercenary, I'd be more than happy to lend you a hand, and...

_No, no more, I can't deal with this anymore, _the nameless Wavemaster thought, fleeing the man sitting on the rock before he could even finish his sentence.

* * *

In Mac Anu, City of Water, the personal gondola of the leader of the Crimson Knights, the fledgling Ascendant, the Lady Subaru drifted aimlessly while she talked, providing a shield for her private discussion with her most trusted subordinate and a way to let the citizenry know that the Crimson Knights were always on duty, always watching for threats to their safety and wellbeing. In this manner were the people of the city allowed to know that they were always protected. 

"I have recently spoken with Lord Orca," a woman with bright blue hair and the beginnings of angel wings sprouting from her back informed the horned knight kneeling before her. "The priestess that was commissioned to purify the malicious presences near here has disappeared, and the guards that Lord Orca provided her were all killed. I believe that only the worst can be assumed."

The knight was visibly taken aback at this poor news. "Lord Orca's men were defeated? _All_ of them?"

The fledgling Ascendant's eyes flickered shut in sympathetic pain for those who had passed on. "I'm afraid so. This merely confirms what we suspected from the beginning: this is no ordinary threat we are dealing with. Lord Orca and Lord Balamung are working together now to see what they can find out about it, but …"

The knight visibly brightened upon hearing this. "Lady Subaru, if Lord Orca of the Azure Sea and Lord Balamung of the Azure Sky are working together, then there is nothing for us to fear. No monster is so fearsome that it can stand before the combined might of the two of them."

A bitter smile crossed Subaru's gentle face. "If the situation has become so grave that it requires the two of them to join forces than I am _more_ worried instead of less. Ours is the area primarily affected, and…" she trailed off, some force dragging her eyes towards the bank of the river canal. A young male Wavemaster stared listlessly at his own reflection, his silver hair in disarray beneath a slightly tattered dark brown cap, his complexion a sickly pale and his eyes shadowed. Something in her heart was touched as it had not been in a long while and she nearly opened her mouth to command that the boat be pulled to shore-

"That's him, Milady! That's the Wavemaster I was telling you about earlier!" her second in command snarled, his hand going to his sword. "Pull the ship over, man! We must apprehend the criminal!"

The boy was instantly aware of the scrutiny. It was like an electric pulse had coursed through his body, every muscle in his body seemed to seize up and his head jerked up in fright, striking violet eyes open as wide as they would go. His paralysis lasted only a moment, though, before he sprang up like an arrow released from the bow and dashed off, melding into the crowd.

"That criminal won't escape this time," the knight growled, the red eyeholes of his helm's visor glowing red.

"Criminal? I am not so sure…" the young woman murmured, hands resting idly on her axe.

"Lady Subaru?"

"It's nothing," she replied, waving a hand dismissively. "I wish to know more about that young man, Silver Knight. I wish to know his name."

A brief pause. "As my Lady Subaru commands," he replied with a deep bow, just as the boat kissed the dock. And then he was gone, pursuing the boy as fast as his legs could carry him.

"I wish to know his name…" she murmured into the empty air before she too left the gondola, leaving the pilot of the little craft wondering if the all-famed Lady Subaru might not have finally cracked under the strain of her position.

* * *

_I have never seen this place before in my life,_ he realized, even though the creepy, flesh-like architecture was the same as the room he'd awoken in. Nothing was familiar, though, and there was no sign of the cat as he descended deeper and deeper into what was beginning to feel like the opening cavern of Hell itself. There was also no sign of any of the traps that Mimiru had mentioned. Although, since she'd also complained about some sort of malicious voice, maybe he shouldn't take what she had to say at face value. _Yeah, sure, coming from the guy who has no memory and can barely tell that the desert is scorching hot.__ Mimiru's not the only person who needs her head examined._ He saw monsters in the ruined temple, but always skeletal feet and scale-encrusted tail tips fleeing to corridors away from him. As if the monsters were afraid of him, a human, a tasty snack. _Stop worrying about it and be grateful that you're not chow._ But how could he be? What in the world was he that monsters were running scared from his presence? What would they do that for except another, more powerful monster? And how was it, even though he was positive that he had never seen this place in his entire life, that he knew _exactly_ which turns to take in the twisting, mazelike corridors? 

_You afraid, nameless one?_A more sinister part of his mind hissed at him. _Do you want answers, or do you want to go back outside and wait for that angel girl and her demon flunkies to kill you and never even know _why? _Is that really all you want out of life?_

Why was that girl stuck in his head? Her innocent eyes, blue hair glinting in the failing light of yet another day wasted, the tantalizing hint of wings and the huge axe cradled in hands that should be too weak to lift it just wouldn't leave him alone. For a brief, split second he had looked at her and felt completely at peace for the first time since he head woken up on the floor of this (hopefully this, he'd be mad as all hell if he'd done all this walking just to end up in the wrong ruined temple)place. And then he'd seen his nemesis, the horned knight, standing right next to her and glaring at him with glowing, demonic eyes…

_Heh and they're after the _cat_ for being part monster. Hypocrites_, he thought angrily as he rounded what he somehow _knew _was the last turn, dumping him in the same large chamber he'd woken up in. Same creepy, too realistic walls and floor and ceiling. Same chest, tantalizing chest sitting invitingly on the altar of some long dead god, treasure chest…

...treasure chest that he'd opened before…

_(Pain. __Absolute, all-consuming pain swallowing his thoughts, his voice, his very identity.__ Every nerve was on fire, melting, burning, __reforming__ Throat constricted too tightly to even scream, let alone breathe. Vision breaking up, heart racing at a hummingbird's pace, too fast for him to maintain… he's dying, he has to be dying, it's not fair to put him through this and make him live with it afterwards…)_

"No…" he whimpered. He'd collapsed to the ground at some point, hands pulling his cap over his eyes, covering his ears as he curled up into a ball of misery. "Stop… I don't want to remember this, please don't make me…"

A hand hesitantly patted his shoulder, a kitten-light touch that was gone the instant he registered it. He forced himself to roll over, to look and see who was trying to comfort him. He pried his eyes open…

…and hovering in midair, inches from his face, was the red-eyed cat person. He lunged upwards, grabbing it out of the air and hugging it to his chest. "Make it go away, please, I don't want to remember that pain anymore…"

_"I will if you let go of me!" _the cat gasped in his ear, writhing in what he realized was probably an ironlike grip.

"Ah, sorry!" the boy gasped, letting the creature go, half expecting it to go bounding away after he had almost strangled it. Instead it merely regained its previous hovering height and brushed a pale lavender paw against his temple. With that, the crippling memory of pain faded. He could remember that he had been in pain, but he could no longer remember what it felt like in perfect, excruciating detail. While he was recovering from suddenly not being in paralyzing flashback agony, the cat… _Macha, it's a she and _her _name is Macha…_ floated over to the chest, landing on top of it and rubbing her face against it lovingly. She then sprang into the air and started to fade out of the room.

"Wait! You can't possibly think I'm going to be stupid enough to open this thing_ again!_" he cried at her retreating form. She merely smiled knowingly at him, her blood red eyes flashing in amusement before she faded completely into nothingness. "I am not opening that damn box," he proclaimed, dropping into a cross-legged position in front of the subtly glowing chest. _Not even if it's the only way to get your memories back? _"Maybe I don't_ want _my memories back." _Really?__ Then why are you here?_ "Nothing is worth going through that pain again." _If you don't get your memories back, maybe next time the Knights catch you they'll kill you for real._

The chest seemed to start glowing even more temptingly. His staff snaked out almost as if the hand holding it had developed a will of its own. "Not happening," he muttered stubbornly. "I am not stupid enough to open that chest." The staff tapped once, twice on the lid of the chest.

And the chest disappeared in a flare of golden light, revealing a glowing tablet written in a language that seemed painfully familiar, as if he could decipher it if he could get just a bit closer. Eagerly he dropped his only weapon and took the tablet in both hands to try and read what it said. Suddenly the tablet flared brighter and a deep sense of… belonging… seemed to flood his entire being. He probably would have collapsed to the floor and curled around that feeling to rest forever if the same power hadn't forced him to remain upright.

**_I have been waiting for you to return here for a long time, Tsukasa._**

_Is that… my name?_ he wondered, his mind feeling slow and sluggish. It would have been frightening if it wasn't such a wonderful feeling. Comfort and safety diffused through his veins like a drug, washing away every doubt an insecurity he'd ever had. Of course Tsukasa was his name, what else would he be called? And he could remember vividly the first time he'd come to this place, Macha floating ahead of him deactivating the traps, telling jokes about the humiliating things that had happened to the adventurers that had come before him to try and steal the power, the power that belonged to him and only to him, the power that would make him whole so no one could ever make him feel small again…

**_I have need of you, darling Tsukasa, just as you have need of me. As long as you will walk by my side, I will protect you. _**

The tablet burst into thousands of golden motes, which seemed to cling to and seep into his skin. The moment the tablet vanished he dropped to his knees, weak and helpless, eyes and mind filled with the golden glow. As the glow started fading the presence began to recede. Still, it took several moments after the light vanished for him to finally grope for his staff and drag himself shakily to his feet. He felt giddy, he felt drunk, he felt… wonderful. All the pain was gone, and it was the best he could remember feeling in a long, long time.

"What, in the name of all that's holy was that light, boy?" came the last voice he wanted to hear when he was feeling so happy. Leaning against the archway at the far end of the chamber was the horned knight that had been harassing him ever since he'd woken up. With a smirk he reached into his robes and pulled out his Sprite Ocarina, putting the enchanted instrument to his lips to take himself away… only to have no sound come out. He tried again and again and again, but nothing happened.

"It's useless, Wavemaster, I've had a barrier set up here. Your Sprite Ocarina… and whatever other teleportation abilities you may have are completely useless.

_Bastard trapped me __good,_ he realized with a groan, happy mood almost completely evaporated. The horned knight was currently monopolizing the only exit from the chamber, and with his teleportation abilities nullified he had little hope of escaping. _My only shot is to fight him head on and somehow maneuver around him so I can get to the door. He seems like the really arrogant type, the type who would come alone if he decided that he had a grudge to settle. And since I've escaped from him twice, he probably has.__ If I can get around him, I can probably outrun him. Problem is getting around __him,__ I doubt he carries that sword around just because it's shiny. Well… __here's__ to hoping that the third time is the charm for me and not for him…!_

Without a flicker of warning he charged the horned knight. Surprised that he would do something so deliberately stupid, Tsukasa(that _had _to be his name, he couldn't stand not knowing anymore) almost managed to land a hit to his throat that the knight just barely managed to block in time. Of course from there on, Tsukasa lost the offensive and was pushed further and further away from the exit, just barely managing to duck and dodge out of the way.

"Why do you persist in fighting, boy, when you know you cannot win?" the knight asked him.

"Because… I find it interesting…" Tsukasa quipped breathily, already beginning to get winded. His stamina _still_ wasn't completely back to normal, and from the way the knight smirked, the Wavemaster knew that his opponent could tell he was tiring.

"If you had only told me about the cat creature from the very beginning, you wouldn't be in this situation," the knight sneered condescendingly to him. The horned man was playing with him and Tsukasa knew it. Desperately he lashed out at his opponent's knee with the butt of his staff, hoping to dislocate it so he could flee. With a snort of contempt the knight blocked his strike and deftly disarmed him, sending his staff skidding back towards the altar. "You do have some small skill, I'll give you that. Now tell me what you know about the cat and that light, and I may let you off with a simple warning."

"Not… telling you… anything," Tsukasa gasped, nursing his wrist. He'd twisted something when the knight had relieved him of his weapon and his wrist throbbed painfully. He probably wouldn't be able to use the hand for a while. Not that it was going to matter much with the point of the horned knight's sword hovering at his throat. He had been so certain that he was about to lose his head that the knight's backhand caught him completely off guard, sending him careening into the far wall.

"Of course you're going to tell me. Now get up, outlaw." He wanted to get up, his staff was right next to him, but he couldn't move. Black spots danced madly across his vision, the knight had stunned him. "Get up!" His hand moved two inches, three, four. If he could just get his hands on his staff, he'd be able to stand. Five inches, six, just a little more…

_Too late._ The knight was charging, he would never be able to move out of the way in time. Even as his numbed fingers curled around the handle of the staff, he knew he was going to die here. The voice would just have to wait a little longer.

**_You _dare_ come to this place and defile what is mine, mortal?_** The beautiful voice snarled, the music of it made harsh and dissonant with rage. The air above him… _shifted_ was the only word that fit… and suddenly the horned knight was the one flying through the air to land on the far side of the chamber in an ungainly heap. Tsukasa rolled over and looked up. Materializing in the air directly above him was the oddest thing he'd ever seen (and even with his memory still a fragmented mess, he was certain that he'd never encountered anything quite this bizarre). It looked like a yellowish floating barbell, with a core in the middle that held a golden ring of some sort.

"What the… what have you done now?" the knight gasped in horror, scrabbling back to his feet and raising his sword in a defensive stance, licking his lips nervously. "What… what is this monster?"

The surface of the creature rippled and shot out a thin gelatin tentacle, rocketing straight at the knight's chest. When he instinctively raised his sword to block the tentacle pierced straight through the blade as if it was made of paper, punching a hole in the knight's breastplate just shy of his heart, eliciting a scream of agony from the knight. Effortlessly it lifted him up, up into the air, dragging his arms over his head and suddenly enveloping him in a poisonous cloud of rainbow light. And then the doomed knight was truly screaming, an endless wailing sound that seemed to be torn from the core of his being, from his very soul…

"S-stop it!" Tsukasa gasped. He could half-remember a pain like that, and not even that jackass knight deserved it. Almost as if the creature had understood him the tentacle with drew, and the knight's body dropped leadenly to the floor, his skin ashen and his breathing coming in breathy labored gasps. Oddly, the wound did not bleed; it was almost as if it had been cauterized from within…

The giant yellow blob turned. Even thought it lacked eyes, Tsukasa knew, somehow, that it was looking straight at him.

_Eh, __gonna__ die, __gonna__ die, __gonna__ die! _his panicked mind screamed as he tried to scramble backwards while it floated ponderously closer, his back pressed futilely against the wall. _Just HAD to say something, now it sees me, it's __gonna__ eat me too, __gonna__ die, die, DIE!_

The monster paused right in front of his face, golden yellow surface rippling. Tsukasa closed his eyes and braced himself for death. But, instead of being speared by a tentacle at point blank, something moist was… rubbing against his face…

One violet eye cracked open. The monster was… licking his face! Like an overgrown Grunty calf!

"Um… uh… good dog?" he guessed, patting its surface, which was surprisingly cohesive for something that looked like it was made of jelly. Petting it was almost… nice. It made some sort of noise that Tsukasa couldn't place, a little like a moan but too different to be called that, and floated up towards the ceiling, vanishing with a rippling in space just like Macha did. Did that mean that the monster and Macha were from the same place?

"Too much to think about," he moaned. "I just want today… to be… over…" his eyes rested on the downed knight lying motionless on the floor. No one was going to believe he hadn't been responsible for this, even though the knight had been the one trying to kill _him_. Now he'd be wanted wherever he went, he wouldn't have a moment of peace…

_And what are they going to do about it?_ he realized. _As long as that monster's protecting me like some overgrown guard dog, who would be stupid enough to try and attack me?_

**_(As long as we walk together, I will protect you…) _**

_I could grow to like this,_ he thought with no small amount of satisfaction, walking past the knight's body, seeking a place where his sprite ocarina would work so he could get back to the water city and get some sleep. For the first time since waking up he was really, truly smiling.

* * *

His lips curled back from his teeth, baring them in an animal snarl as his nearly black eyes scanned the letter again. 

"They dare," he whispered, large hands curling around the letter, crumpling the paper. "They dare take my only child from me." His hands were shaking now, shaking hard enough that the paper was beginning to tear under the strain...

He forced himself to put the letter down and smooth the creases, reading it one, final time before he snatched his lance from the corner where it had been collecting dust since his wife had died, exiting his chambers and slamming the heavy oaken door behind him. It bounded shut with a satisfying crash that echoed down the hallway. "No one takes away what is mine. No one! The gods will not deny me my due this time!" Shouting and cursing, he roused the armsmen. Even if he had to scour the earth bare, he would find his child again. And then... and then...

...and then justice would be rendered.

* * *

End first chapter. Twenty-five more left. That's right, right now the plan is to have as many chapters as there are episodes. 

So? What did you think? I've never done a novelization of an anime series before, which is more or less what this is. Did I stick too closely to the original flow of events? Is Tsukasa OOC? Please review and tell me what you think!


	2. Sift

Chapter Two: Sift(through the fragments and find a better lie)

Bear watched the silver-haired Wavemaster tossing Twilight onions to the young grunties in the town's pen, laughing while the creatures fought over the treats, and couldn't help but be amazed. How could the kid be so relaxed after almost killing one of the Crimson Knights, the second in command no less? Didn't he know he was wanted for immediate arrest? Was he oblivious, or just stupid?

Apparently losing interest in bating the grunties, the boy hopped off the fence where he had been sitting and started walking towards the exit of the corral (which also meant walking towards Bear, since he was lounging near the entrance.)

"Oi."

The boy stopped, not bothering to look at him. "What do you want to ramble about this time, old man?"

He let the 'old man' comment pass; he was well beyond the age where he could get riled at people for telling the truth. Not to mention, his own son called him worse. "Do you ever check the message boards?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. It was almost impossible to _miss_ the message boards, they seemed to go up anywhere there were people. Even in a skeletal town like Dun Loireag, too high up in the mountains to attract too many people, there were at least three message boards. And every single one of them had a wanted description of one nameless, silver haired Wavemaster…

"I don't bother with stupid things like that," the kid said cockily. Although, despite the cockiness there seemed to be an undercurrent of unease.

"Well, I guess I have nothing to say to you, then," Bear sighed. He didn't know this kid, if the boy didn't want to talk then he didn't have a right to get involved. The boy snorted, rolling his violet eyes and stormed off all but radiating irritation. As Bear pushed off the fencepost he had been leaning on he noticed a slight irregularity to the shadow of the main gatepost. "Haven't we had discussions before about manners and following people on their private business?"

A snort issued from the shadows. "I can't help it if your senses are going and you didn't notice me until now." A shift in the breeze exposed a hint of turquoise cloth and a few stray locks of wavy golden hair. Not that he needed the hint to know who was spying on him. "And can you blame me for being curious about why you left me to fend for myself back in the field the other day? Not that I should have been, I guess. You just can't pass up the hopeless cases, can you?"

"You were just fine by yourself," he countered, not really feeling like going into 'hopeless cases' with this woman.

"True, but I might not have been if the fight had gone on longer than it did."

"Now you're just sulking, BT. You're the best Wavemaster I know, there's no way those monsters would have defeated you."

At last she came out from behind the pillar, vivid green eyes sparkling in amusement. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Sir Bear. But I must admit, you picked a true problem child this time. Even your _real_ son was never quite stupid enough to pick a fight with the Crimson Knights."

Bear had nothing to say to that. After all, he was well past the age where he could get riled up at people for simply telling the truth.

* * *

_Oh my god, he's still alive!_ Mimiru thought, relief flooding her. She couldn't help herself, despite the fact that she was still angry at him a smile blossomed on her face. And what does the arrogant brat do? He _glares_ at her and keeps walking. 

"Hey," she snapped, starting to lose her temper. Still he kept walking away. "Did you know that the Knights have a reward out for you?"

Finally he stopped. "Really."

"Yeah! The second in command of the Crimson Knights was found half-dead laid out in a dungeon. The guy can't remember anything that happened for the last month but since he told his buddies that he was going after you before he left for the dungeon that they found him… the place where we met… they're assuming that _you _had something to do with it! If you don't go in and set the record straight soon, you're going to be in a huge amount of trouble. Not to mention the reward they put on your head is enough to make anyone feel a little greedy…" Finally she turned to face him, and he looked… surprised. How could he look surprised? It wasn't like the posters and the long speculation lists that people had been attaching to the boards were subtle. They were impossible for even her to miss.

And yet, judging by his face, this boy had, somehow.

"He really doesn't remember anything that happened? Are you sure?"

"That's the one thing that everyone agrees on," Mimiru snorted. The pale boy looked even paler, for some reason…

_"Do_ _you… do you know of any traps in there that would have caused amnesia?__")_

No. That just wasn't possible. "Say, I don't think I ever got your name…"

"It's Tsukasa," he replied, the expression on his face still looking like someone had walked up behind him and hit him over the head with a rock.

_How does one subtly ask someone if they have amnesia? _Mimiru wondered, her brain coming up with nothing. Subtle was not her strongest suit and something about Tsukasa's face said that one more question just might break him. "Well, if you're ever in trouble… you know how to get in touch with me, right?"

"Um, yeah…" he replied vaguely, that troubled expression seemingly stamped permanently onto his face. "I…" he trailed off and turned his back to her, wandering off without even saying good-bye.

"Tsukasa, wait up! I… you…" The only sign he gave that he'd heard her at all was speeding up to get away from her. "Arrgh! He must be the most _infuriating _person I've ever met!" she snarled, turning on her heel to storm away…

Something pale blue and tan was looming inches from her face. "Boo."

"Eeep!" she yelped, dropping her sword, which buried itself halfway into the wooden planking. Ooops, she was going to have to pay for that one…

* * *

"A… cat? As in, meow meow, drinks milk and eats mice?" Mimiru asked incredulously, more than slightly taken aback at the way the information-trading session had turned. 

"Well, not exactly. This one's apparently purple and white with glowing red eyes, wears clothing, and is the size of a human child," her friend and mentor, Bear, explained.

"Are the Knights really giving so much weight to this? I mean, it sounds a lot like some wild rumor to me…" Mimiru trailed off suspiciously.

"Well, the knights seem to think it's real enough. In fact, that cat is the only other suspect they're pursuing in the assault case against the Silver Knight."

"I still have a hard time swallowing that," Mimiru snorted, propping her hands behind her head and shifting her weight back slightly on her perch, careful not to overbalance and go flying into empty space.

"What, the fact that the only other suspect in this attempted murder case is a feline, or that…"

"Well, obviously that, but I also don't like the fact that the Knights usually have to get three or four reports of a Rouge victimizing mercenaries before they act on it, but the _minute _something happens to their _precious_Silver Knight, they hound the first possible lead without stopping for even the tiniest scrap of proof!" Mimiru burst out. Rouges really were a serious problem for mercenaries. A lot of them were registered as mercenaries themselves, but instead of hunting treasures in the abandoned ruins of times gone by or taking hires from the wealthy of the cities, they preyed on whatever travelers were hapless enough to be in their way. Some simply robbed the victims of their valuables, but most killed first and relieved their targets of their possessions later. As long as they stuck to leeching the blood of their own instead of attacking trading caravans, the Knights of all three colors (Be they Azure, Cobalt, or Crimson) tended to ignore them. "They put fifty _thousand _gold pieces on his head for a live capture, Bear! Every bounty hunter is going to be salivating over him the minute he walks out of this town… it's a real miracle that no one's just decided to ignore the no-combat laws and attack him in the town, and he doesn't even realize what's going on!"

"You really don't care for the Knights very much," Bear observed idly, although his dark purple eyes crinkled in amusement.

Mimiru sighed and closed her eyes so he wouldn't see her roll them. "Well, I can't deny that they do some good; I mean, someone has to enforce the law, and they do a fairly decent job of keeping crime down in the major cities like Mac Anu, but… ugh, I just can't stand their high and mighty attitude!" she snarled.

"I do agree with you on one point at least… there's something strange about all of this. Not just the bounty, but if you're right about Tsukasa's amnesia…"

Mimiru bit her lip. "It's the only option that makes any sense, I mean… how else could he possibly miss the message boards unless he couldn't read them? And he really seems clueless about other things to, like manners and the consequences of his actions…"

"There _are _less radical explanations for that, but… hmm…" An expression crossed Bear's face that normally would have had Mimiru wincing at any other time but this. "I'll think on it for a while, and keep you posted, so check your crystal periodically, okay?"

"I will, I will…"

* * *

_Ugh, this is why I HATE traveling alone! _BT thought to herself, wishing that she had simply decided to wait for Bear to answer her queries to go out for more training as she ducked around another series of stone pillars. The shadow was still stalking her in the afternoon sunlight, just as it had been for the last half an hour (it had taken her about half that time for her to admit that she was noticing something more than an abnormally paranoid monster). Truth be told, she had never been a great distance runner, and she was already starting to tire. No matter how she twisted or turned she couldn't manage to get a bead on her stalker to hit him with a well-deserved bolt of lightning, and after her the last of her previous three attempts had ended with a chip of stone that had been dislodged by a miss nearly taking off one of her arms, she had decided to conserve her energy. 

This time the flicker was accompanied by a swish. BT whirled, staff slamming into the ground hard enough to strike sparks as her attacker jumped a good five feet straight up and landed behind her with a graceful twist. She was so busy gaping in astonishment that she almost failed to block his first strike. Not that it did her much good, his blade struck the staff with such force that she was disarmed almost instantly. With a flash of steel and a twist she was suddenly pinned against something warm and muscular, arms wrapped around her throat. A glance backwards told her that this knives were attached to his wrists somehow, possibly retractable and spring-loaded. She'd only seen the like a couple times, and although they were harder to use in some ways than normal knives, they also allowed a lot more versatility, especially when it came to the element of surprise. _No wonder he disarmed me so easily,_ she thought ruefully before turning the rest of her mental facilities to removing herself from her current situation. The annoying thing about all this is that if she squirmed too much she might just remove her head accidentally…

"Your name, please?"

She blinked. "Are you serious? You've spent the last half hour stalking me, and all you want is my name?"

She couldn't see his face, but there was a definite smirk in his tone. "Well, that's not _all _I want, of course. You've seen my skills… I'd make a really powerful ally. And judging from those… GiRai Krutz spells, correct?... you're a rather skilled Wavemaster yourself. We'd be unbeatable if we worked together, what do you say to that?"

She snorted and rolled her eyes skyward. How had she let this idiot catch her, again? "I say you're a fool."

"Hmm… boring and smart, or interesting and foolish? What's your preference?" he leered. BT wished she could see his face… it would be really nice to be able to tell if he was flirting with her or just being childish. It would be even nicer to have a description so she could report this incident to the Crimson Knights when she got away, but at this moment she really couldn't afford to think that far ahead just yet.

"Heh, worst of all is the _boring_ fool, like you are," she quipped. She needed to keep him distracted just a little longer…

"Oh, a sharp tongue? Better and better. Your name, please," he repeated, and this time it didn't sound like a question at all. "Last chance before I-"

The spell wasn't controlled or even completely finished when she released it, it was just a burst of electrical energy. Most people wouldn't have even been able to do that much without a staff to focus their energies. Her assailant screamed in pain and flailed wildly, allowing her to squirm out of his grasp… but not before one of those wicked blades caught her on the side of the throat, sending her precious red blood everywhere in a burst of brilliant crimson that spiraled into black at a dizzying, disconcerting speed…

* * *

Subaru gazed out at the watery canals of Mac Anu, the sight failing to soothe her troubled mind as it normally did. The defeat of her second in command made her feel both angry and… vulnerable. And further angry with her second - what had possessed the Silver Knight to go out alone? – which wasn't truly fair, considering his condition. Whatever stupidity had possessed him, he had certainly paid for it fivefold. 

"Starting with the village where we encountered the Rogue Wavemaster, we are conducting a systematic search, and inquiring as to anyone who has had contact in with him in the past. If we continue in this manner and remain vigilant in our patrols…"

"Is that really going to be sufficient?" Subaru wondered. The fact that they still did not have a name for the boy was proof enough that they were doing something wrong. And they simply could not afford to take any more men away from their assigned duties to monitor the activities of _one _Rogue. She would not allow it, and might even go so far as to discipline whoever suggested it. The first duty of the Crimson Knights was to keep the cities, towns and villages safe from the monsters that might otherwise prey upon them.

"If the Rogue wishes to move through any sizable settlement, he will have to use a Chaos Gate eventually," one of the knights addressing her pointed out. "And as long as we control the Chaos Gates we will be able to apprehend him eventually."

"Hmm…" She still wasn't certain that the silver-haired Wavemaster she had seen on the docks that day was really responsible for what had happened to the Silver Knight, but until he woke up… "Didn't you tell me of an incidence where this Wavemaster was able to use teleportation in a warded settlement?" she asked, half turning to gage their reactions. Both knights jerked and exchanged what would probably be nervous looks if their expressions weren't so thoroughly hidden by their helmets.

"With all due respect Milady, Windfall Village is a very small settlement. This would not be the first, ah, failure of their defenses that has been reported. In settlements of any great size where Tsukasa has been seen, he has been reported to have used a Chaos Gate upon leaving. The fact that he is in possession of a Sprite Ocarina is proof of the fact that he cannot teleport at will-"

"The fact that he possesses a Sprite Ocarina is not proof of anything. He may simply wish to hide his ability and reserve it for emergencies. Most Weavers who operate outside the Council are very circumspect when it comes to their abilities. We do not know for certain that he will always need to use a Chaos Gate to travel from one place to another… but he should still need to use it if he wishes to leave the Mac Anu region." Weavers were those who were adept in more complicated spells, like barriers, the creation of Chaos Gates, the creation of many useful items like the Sprite Ocarinas and the messenger crystals… and the borderline-illegal things like instant teleportation regardless of location, true psychic communication, in addition to several other things that were more rumor and less fact, like necromancy and mindreading and dozens of other impossible things. However, the only Weaver she had ever heard of who could leap from one area capital to another without using a Chaos Gate was the legendary Helba herself, and considering the most popular rumor about the Rogue Weaver was that she was actually a demigod… the odds of this Rogue Wavemaster being able to duplicate the feat were nearly zero.

"Very well, Milady, we will keep the watch upon the Gates. And if that does not work, the bounty should be enough to bring him into custody."

Subaru's eyes narrowed at the mention of the bounty. "I'm still not entirely sure I approve of that measure. There have been at least three cases that I know of involving Wavemasters who have the misfortune to resemble our target being assaulted and dragged to the Knights' Stronghold… I am not at all certain that the ends justify the means in this particular matter, especially since we are still not a hundred percent certain that the Wavemaster was involved at all. Has Ginkan's condition improved?"

"He still sleeps a great deal, Milady. The healers believe it will be at least three more days before he can return to his duties, and his memories of the last month seem to still be patchy, but are slowly returning. And… I humbly apologize that the bounty was posted without your approval. Such a mishap will not happen again."

_Or rather, you will take a great deal more care that I do not find out about __it,_she could not help but think. She was truly trapped; she could not remand the bounty issue without making it obvious that it had been posted against her orders for at least another three weeks, or until it became obvious in some other manner that it was not working. The ruling council of Mac Anu had had enough trouble accepting a _woman _as the new leader of the Crimson Knights even when Crim was around to act as her second and her regent of a sort, although most of the administrative work had still fallen squarely on her shoulders. When she had reached her majority and Crim had left her obviously in command of the Knights, it had nearly caused an uproar. She wasn't sure that she was secure enough in her position to let any challenge to her authority become a public spectacle at this point… _And _this _is why I need __Ginkan__ here, instead of warming a hospital bed in the Healers' House! _she quietly moaned. Although she and the Silver Knight were often at odds with one another, he faithfully carried out her orders. In return, she did her best to give his advice due consideration even if she disagreed with him. He had been one of her earliest supporters and she was not slow to forget that. "See to it that it does not," was all that she allowed herself to say aloud.

"Yes, Milady!" they were both quick to answer. Subaru nodded slightly in acknowledgement and turned her gaze back to the water. Her thoughts had started slipping once again to a chance glance at the boy they were now so avidly pursuing when one of the knights hesitantly spoke up again. "If I may be so bold, Lady Subaru… about the Silver Knight…"

"Yes?" she asked, turning fully around this time. "Is there something else about his condition that you forgot to tell me?"

"No! Nothing like that, it's just… perhaps you did not notice, but the Captain… the Captain has always been very fond of you, Milady. It is possible that, out of a certain sense of rivalry with Crim he might have…"

_What? _She thought numbly as the boat hit the dock. She had been aware that Ginkan had always cared for her… but certainly not the way that this knight meant the word 'fond' if he was comparing the Silver Knight to Crim, who many people had speculated was her lover. (Although Crim had certainly not been her lover, despite those godsawful rumors! He was more of an older brother figure to her than anything else.) Not to mention the fact that by-the-book Ginkan had always hated it when Crim had gone off on his own in this sort of situation… he certainly would never _dream _of trying to emulate the actions of a man that he could barely stand even if he was trying to impress her… in that sort of manner…

She was not able to bring herself to reply to this new information verbally, although she was placed a hand against the shoulder of the kinight who had told her in a gesture of thanks. It was important that her knights came to her with the truth, as they had come to her father before her, or this entire organization would fall apart around their heads. He looked up at her in that moment, eyes earnest even behind the helm bespelled to give them an eerie blue glow.

"Please don't hold this against the Captain, Milady…"

"You are both dismissed," she commanded more harshly than she had intended. "Oh, and before I forget… if the barriers protecting Windfall Village are really _that _faulty, I want them strengthened."

"Milady, with the bounty and all our other expenses, the Knights' coffers really cannot afford…"

"You may draw the money needed for the expenses from the Misono fortune if it is necessary." _It's not as if I am likely to leave behind any heirs who will actually need it. _The fertility rate of Ascendant was abysmally low; supposedly they were too 'pure' to need things of the flesh, such as children. Subaru remembered crying when she had seen her wings beginning to sprout in a sort of distant way, as if they had been the tears of another woman. In comparison to everything that had happened to her after that it seemed like almost a petty grievance now. "I will not have any settlement be unprotected in today's climate. It is simply too dangerous to be allowed to continue."

"Milady! We shall attend to it at once!" the knight that had not confided in her about Ginkan assured her. Both managed to somehow bow from their kneeling position before they both rose and filed off the boat in an orderly enough fashion, although the knight who had informed her of Ginkan's… feelings… keep shooting her half-guilty, half-worried looks over his shoulder. "Crim, huh?" she murmured under her breath, staring blankly out at the water as she waited for the next group to come and report, her mind lost in memories of a time when her life had seemed so simple and straightforward…

* * *

_What now? _Tsukasa wondered idly to himself as he returned to Mac Anu. Probably not the smartest place for a wanted man _(looking for you, eyes everywhere, and when they catch you-)_ to be heading, but that was the point, right? Hopefully, they'd be looking for him in Dun Loireag(he only knew the town's name from eavesdropping on other people's conversations) or the other places he had frequented. After all, it only made sense that… 

"Hey, there he is!" someone shouted. Tsukasa jerked around to see that not only was Mac Anu guarded as well, but he had had the unbelievably rotten luck to come just as the guard was changing, so he now had to deal with four knights instead of two.

"Stop right there!" another one cried. _Yeah right,_ Tsukasa thought to himself, taking an instinctive step backwards before the golden light enveloped him again…

…when the rings died he found himself in a twisted, lonely place with heavy dark clouds and dead trees hundreds of feet tall. Nothing grew on the bleak landscape as far as he could tell. Some of those enormous trees had open coffins equally as tall propped against them Tsukasa could only stare in morbid fascination and wonder how it was that the skeletons stayed upright…

_I've been here before,_ he realized with a flash of melancholy nostalgia. _I… I think I used to come here a _lot… _it was a good place to sit and think for a couple of hours before I had to rush back to…_

Blank. Part of him wanted to throw down his staff and scream in frustration, hopping up and down and tearing out his hair. However, since he _knew _that would attract monsters, he simply made his way over to one of the ancient trees destroyed in times gone by and half-collapsed against the trunk, sliding to the ground.

"What am I supposed to do?" he wondered blankly. Even though this was his Thinking Place (yes, that sounded right…) nothing brilliant was coming to him. Just an overpowering feeling of… _sadness… _that seemed to pin him to the ground, immobile…

A sense of… displacement in the air caused him to look up just as Macha materialized with a bow and a broad wink.

_"Well, you're looking down! __What's wrong, Tsukasa__?"

* * *

_

BT returned to consciousness slowly, the base of her neck throbbing for some indeterminate reason. But even though she hurt, she was warm and safe, so instead of trying to wake up, she snuggled deeper into the blankets…

_…blankets…_

She sat bolt upright with a horrified shriek, a mistake that caused her neck to hurt even more. But even as she clapped a hand to the bandages _(bandages?)_ she scanned the room warily, looking for any sign of her attacker.

_Wait. Wait a minute, I recognize that vase, and the lilacs that are in it, and that table and those books…__ and that's my staff propped up in the corner near the door… __eww__, there's blood on the ribbons and the shaft; I'm going to have to clean it later.__ I remember buying that reclining chair to read in at night, and haggling for that throw rug… this is _my _room! That sneaky bastard, how long has he been following me?_

Come to think of it, there was a letter on the table, along with a _very _familiar circular turquoise crystal. Her hands went instinctively to her chest, where her messenger crystal normally hung…

Nope, not there. _Bastard, _she thought to herself yet again as she dragged herself out of bed and staggered over to the end table. The handwriting had the awkward look of a child's but it was legible enough.

_Dearest __BT(__And I look forward to finding out what those initials stand for),_

_I must admit, I like a person with a personality as… electric as yours. Don't do that again, I might not patch you up next time. Your messenger crystal was very helpful with small, inconsequential details like where you live, and the name I asked you for so politely. I've even left some money to replace your outfit and those sheets even though it really is your fault that you're so bloody… I am sorry about the sheets, but I had a feeling that you wouldn't appreciate me taking off your clothing. I really look forward to working with you in the future!_

_Here's to a profitable alliance!_

_Sora_

"That… the _temerity _of that…" the worst part was, without a physical description, there wasn't any point in reporting him. The Knights wouldn't move until they gathered more information than just a name, or until there were fatalities. And she had – narrowly – escaped being a fatality, which she really shouldn't be too unhappy about. But _still…!_

"It's probably too much to hope that someone saw him carry me up here… damned monkey probably jumped through the window," she sighed as she looked down at what she had been wearing (hopefully) the day before. The entire right side of her robes was splattered in blood and probably beyond saving. Damnit, and this had been her favorite set of robes. If she was lucky, she might be able to get some duplicates made…

_Bastard._The world tilted dizzily and she luckily managed to land in a chair, instead of crashing into a table or falling to the floor. She was going to have to call someone to help her out a little… and the only person she knew who she trusted around her when she was this feeble was Bear. He was going to have a serious gloat over this; she could already see his almost-smile…

_Bastard._

* * *

"…I think I used to come here when I wanted to be alone, but the Knights will find me eventually wherever I run… They're everywhere," Tsukasa explained to Macha, who listened raptly. It was really nice to have someone who actually cared about what he had to say instead of bossing him around, like Mimiru and that hulking swordsmaster. "I wish there was someplace I could go to get away from them and just _rest _for a little while…" 

Macha's brilliant red eyes seemed to light up. _"Actually, I know about a place like that! I was sent to tell you about it!"_

Tsukasa blinked. "Really… is that true? Who sent you?"

_"Of course it's true, and the Voice sent me, silly! Just like the Voice __sent me to get you the first time,"_ Macha replied with a grin.

"So… you don't really know me. From before, that is…" Tsukasa trailed off, feeling suddenly depressed. Macha was really his only lead; now he was back to square one.

_"Tsukasa…" _Macha began hesitantly. _"Have you ever considered that you might be better off without your memories?"_

"I…" Come to think of it, the only memory that had come back to him so far had been so painful that he had _begged _Macha to take it away. His memories couldn't _all _be like that, could they?

_"Just think about it for a while," _Macha suggested. _"__Now, __I'll tell you how to get __to our secret place__, so listen carefully…"

* * *

_

_Something is weird about this dungeon. I haven't encountered a single monster yet… _bo_ring. Although, maybe there's a reason there's no monsters here, like there's a powerful monster waiting in the bowels of the dungeon, something so terrible that all the weaker denizens of the place were driven away by paralyzing fear… that would be sort of cool! I'd love to fight something like that! _The youth thought gleefully, his dark green hair glinting in the light of torches that, somehow, never burned out. He wondered if there was some sort of spell involved. Probably. _Maybe if-_

The sound of footsteps cut off his thoughts and he ducked deeper into the shadows. A Wavemaster with silver hair and brownish-orangeish cheek stripes walked right past him, completely oblivious to his presence. _Hmm… silver hair, violet eyes, brown and tan robes with a crescent staff and cheek stripes… that couldn't __possibly be that Rogu__e that the Knights are looking for, could he? _The young man wondered, right hand blade sliding out of concealment. _Things are actually getting interesting! _Not that he was going to turn someone so fascinating over to the Knights. Not without talking to him first. _Treasure, maybe a fight, and maybe a new friend! I knew that things were looking up for me from the moment I spotted that BT lady! _So he silently trailed the Wavemaster as the boy made his progress to the treasure room. When he arrived at the statue, instead of opening the treasure chest like a normal person he walked _around _the statue. The youth heard the Wavemaster murmur something, and then there was a brilliant flash of light, completely different from a Sprite Ocarina or any other type of teleportation device he had ever seen. Still, when he made it around the statue to see for himself, the strange Wavemaster was gone.

"Well," said Sora, scraping a blade along the stone wall, something stirring in the back of his head, something about those 'assignments' that were given to him by the figure that he could never see, the jobs that he could never quite remember after doing them. Maybe he could get a lead on his mysterious benefactor(benefactress?). After all, he couldn't remember anything in the contract he'd signed what seemed like forever and a half ago about not snooping around the Master(Mistress?)'s business once things were complete; he just wasn't supposed to do anything to interfere beforehand. "This has the potential to be rather interesting."

And dangerous, couldn't forget the danger of squishy, immediate death.

Sora smiled at the prospect.

* * *

_"This way, this way!"_Macha prompted, still dragging Tsukasa along by the hand. They were in a field unlike any Tsukasa had ever seen before; sure there was nothing strange about the grass or the few scattered trees, but the rainbow sheen that seemed to permeate everything was bizarre. Not to mention the floating stuffed animal. _(Teddy bear)_ his mind supplied, and he stopped to stare at it. Wasn't that annoying Blademaster named Bear? After a cute, cuddly thing like this? Tsukasa couldn't help but snicker imagining the man with black button eyes and rounded fuzzy ears stuck to his head.

_"Come on, Tsukasa, she's waiting for you!"_

"She?" Tsukasa asked, wondering if Macha was talking about the Voice again… and then he saw her.

Like everything else in this place, she was iridescent. Her skin was had an oddly reflective quality that he had never seen on a living creature before, picking up the rainbow sheen of nearly everything else in this bizarre place. Her dress was a pale, nearly white shade of pink that matched her hair, which was only a few shades darker. Long bangs covered her eyes, and her lips seemed to be curved in a faint smile. She hovered a good three feet above the bed that had been provided for her.

"Macha? Who's _that_?"

* * *

Mimiru nearly spewed her drink all over them. "What? The Crimson Knights let Tsukasa get _away?"_ she gasped, and Bear winced. Perhaps a crowded tavern hadn't been the best of places to have this conversation with Mimiru, but all the noise of other people's conversations was a good mask for their own – _if _they could keep their voices down – and he didn't feel that BT should be exposed to the elements just yet. In fact, if he'd had his way she would still be in bed, but he couldn't break his appointment with Mimiru and there was no way he was going to leave her alone in her apartment to just wait for that psychopath Sora to drop in and 'check on her recovery', so… 

"Well, I was able to talk to the knights," he studiously ignored Mimiru's glare and continued, "and they were able to give me some information. Tsukasa was spotted and nearly apprehended at the Mac Anu Chaos Gate. A surface check of the Gate's activities showed that he'd done a field jump instead of going to a different town or village. So, theoretically, he should still be in the Mac Anu area somewhere."

BT rolled her eyes. "Oh please, unless they know exactly what field he sent himself to it's just as likely he sent himself to somewhere just outside a remote village. Then he could walk to the village and use the Chaos Gate there."

"Unless the Knights were there too," Mimiru grumbled.

BT rolled her eyes skyward. "There are at least twenty outlying villages in the Mac Anu province, and since the Knights are traveling in pairs lately that would mean that they needed at least forty people to cover all of them. Considering that their overall personnel only total at about a hundred and fifty men, and that they're responsible for security both in Dun Loireag and in Mac Anu, they can't afford to spare that many people. They probably have the villages closest to the capital guarded, but there's no way they have men stationed at _all _of them. The Knights just don't have enough people for that."

"Well… but…"

"What, do you know something else about the kid?" BT asked.

"Do you think it's possible that he might really have amnesia, Bear?" Mimiru asked, her eyes shining with concern.

"I think it's just one of many possibilities. We won't know for sure unless we talk to him again…"

BT sighed leaned back against her chair, eyes flickering shut. Whether she was still fatigued from losing three quarters of the blood in her body and then being force-fed healing draughts of questionable quality or simply sick of the conversation was up for interpretation. "You're hopeless cases, both of you. A wanted criminal is a wanted criminal, and as long as he has to use the Gates the Knights are going to catch him eventually. Who knows, you might even get in trouble for withholding information… the Crimson Knights would really be interested in knowing his name."

"I wonder if Tsukasa's in trouble right now…?" Mimiru asked, staring blankly out the window with a sigh. It was quite clear that she had not heard the older woman at all.

"See what I mean?" BT muttered to Bear. "Completely hopeless. Not only does she lack even the tiniest glimmer of spatial awareness-"

"I heard that!"

* * *

_"Oh, her?__ That's the Voice'__s C__hild. She says to me sometimes that when the Child wakes up, that the world will be reborn!" _Macha gave the boy a huge feline grin. _"Wouldn't that be a sight to see?"_

"I wouldn't know. I don't know the first thing about the _current _world, so I guess I could really care less about a new one… Macha?" Oddly, once he had torn his eyes away from the alien girl, the bizarre catlike creature had once again disappeared on him. "Honestly, I don't think I'm ever going to understand her…"

_**"Tsukasa?**__** Can you hear me, Tsukasa?"**_

That same contented feeling he had gotten came back to him, not strongly enough to make him collapse but still enough to totally relax him. "May I ask who you are?"

_**"…as long as we walk together, Tsukasa, I will protect you, just as the Guardian I bestowed upon you saved you from that vile Knight before."**_

Tsukasa remembered the knight, but the memory of his screams didn't seem as raw or frightening as before. Actually, now that he really thought about it, hadn't that pompous jerk deserved to be taken down a couple of pegs? He'd been trespassing, after all. He'd put his presence and his nasty magic where it didn't belong. He had received his due, in fact, he should be on bended knees giving thanks that his pathetic life had been spared. Yes, that interloping knight should be thankful that the Guardian – _his _Guardian – had spared him.

Somewhere in his reminiscing the fact that the Voice had failed to answer his question was completely lost; a tidbit that he would not realize for quite some time.

"Tell me what to do and it shall be done," he replied as respectfully as he knew how, bowing to the empty air. A tiny sliver of panic infected that perfect calm. The thought of being abandoned was distinctly terrifying.

_**"Contact Mimiru**__** and arrange a meeting**__**," **_the instruction came. Did the omnipresent Voice sound amused by his show of respect? He really hoped so, because as long as the Voice was happy he knew that he would be happy too. _**"Do you recall how to use the messenger crystals?"**_

_Messenger… _Wait, now he remembered what that pale lavender crystal in his belt pouch was for! Of course he could contact Mimiru, as long as he had her name it would be easy, except… "How can I? The Knights guard all the Gates, and I…"

_**"Do not fear, Tsukasa... those who have faith in me are duly rewarded."**_

Horrified that he might have offended one of the only entities that had given him anything even remotly resembling help and comfort since he had first awoken to helplessness in the bowels of that abandoned temple, Tsukasa quickly choked out an almost panicked, "I'm sorry!"

**_"There is nothing to forgive, darling Tsukasa,"_** the voice assured him, and suddenly that feeling of safety and security and _belonging _was back, the heady euphoria stealing his legs out from under him. He found himself sitting on the floating girl's bed, not quite understanding how he had gotten there and not particularly caring. The girl didn't seem to be in any condition to mind, after all.**_ "To make your task easier, I shall bestow upon you a new power," _**the voice reassured him. Tsukasa briefly wondered what exactly the voice was talking about… and then, he knew. The same way he suddenly gained insight to things from before he lost his memory, he knew that he could now…

"Heh. Heheheh!" he chuckled. This was going to be _great…_

* * *

_Unusually large group of Knights crowding the Lady Subaru's private gondola… doesn't she usually go out there when she wants to think and be by herself? _Bear wondered idly. He'd left BT in his own apartment for the moment, as they were in the process of selling hers so she could move someplace else. It didn't make much sense for her to stay at that address while that moron was stalking her, and until they had more than a name (and a rather common one too) to go off of, it was probably better to be as cautious as possible. For some reason that he'd never be able to figure out, the Lady suddenly looked up, the symbol of House Misono tattooed on her forehead. 

_This girl is nineteen? _Bear wondered incredulously, shaking his head as he broke eye contact. The Lady Subaru looked like nothing more than a child, and a fragile one too. Arms that slender should not be able to heft an axe that heavy… but then again, the Lady was also a fledgling Ascendant, and hence entitled to circumvent the laws of nature. Still, he'd trained years to build up strength and speed, and the thought that someone could just be handed all that by the powers that be simply by virtue of being _born, _well…. It annoyed him.

"Bear! Beeaaar!" called a familiar voice, jolting him out of his slightly melancholy reverie. Elbowing her way past the crowds and running up to him was a rather familiar looking girl in rather skimpy red armor…

No, he was not going to allow himself to go there again. He was not Mimiru's father and had no right to tell her how to dress. She'd made that rather clear to him when she had upended her drink on him and stormed out of the pub the first time – was it three years ago now? – that he had delicately suggested that it might be a better idea in their line of work to wear something that offered one more protection for one's vitals. "I can't believe I finally found you! I've been looking for _forever, _and you haven't been checking your messenger crystal…" she trailed off, leaning against the railing of the bridge to catch her breath. Bear couldn't help but wonder just how long Mimiru had been running to become _that _winded.

"For someone who complains so much about the rudeness of others, Mimiru, you certainly can be a bit inconsiderate when you're in a hurry," Bear commented as he waited for his sometimes-pupil to compose herself.

"Heheh… guess I'm a bit flustered. You see, I… well, I have a bit of a problem."

"Hmm?" he prompted, knowing that if thoroughly independent Mimiru was coming to him for help that she probably really was in trouble.

"Well… Tsukasacontactedme," popped out in a relieved rush.

"That's good news," Bear said, although he was slightly confused. It seemed that every time they came into contact with the surly boy, regardless of their intentions, he gleefully rebuffed their attempts to help him. Why would the boy suddenly contract Mimiru out of the blue?

"Yes, but well… the place he wants to meet is in the Lorieag region. If he wants to get there from here in Mac Anu…" as one, their heads turned in the direction of the Chaos Gate. They'd both seen the concentration of Knights in this area recently. There was no way Tsukasa was going to be able to avoid the search net and get to the only gate in this region strong enough to take a person to another one.

"Well, we'll just have to go ahead to this meeting place and wait for him," Bear sighed.

"You mean you're not going to help-"

"Mimiru, the first person that even _thinks _about drawing a sword in Mac Anu right now is going to be swarmed by at least twenty Knights. All we'll do if we try to interfere here is get arrested. We're just going to have to trust that Tsukasa has found a way around the Knights somehow."

"I still think we should try and help him here," Mimiru muttered, kicking a nonexistent stone on the cobblestone street. Bear was just relieved that Mimiru had come to him before going off to meet the mysterious Tsukasa. Because, if the boy really _had _dispatched the Silver Knight on his own, he was not someone that should be treated with unconsciously, and he knew from talking to her that Mimiru viewed Tsukasa as a sort of lost little kid, not as someone who should be feared. And hard as he himself found it to believe that the wispy little Wavemaster that he had first encountered hacking ineptly at a fountain spirit was capable of the brutal assault, well… things weren't always what they appeared to be at first glance.

* * *

_Oooh__, hello, targets number One and Two, _Sora thought as he dropped from his perch, landing right behind the pair of patrolling knights and covering their eyes with his hands. "Peek-a-boo!" he called out cheerfully before somersaulting backwards to avoid the pair of sharp and pointy objects coming at him. Huh, they were a bit quicker on the draw then he had expected, but still as completely unaware of their surroundings as most knights he had met. If it wasn't straight ahead of them, they didn't see it. How typical… and how easily transferred over to their worldviews. 

"Who the heck are you?" Left Hand Knight growled, surprisingly without charging him immediately, hacking and slashing like the monster his helmet made him appear to be. How fascinating, he had picked a pair of targets that _might _have a brain between the two of them. What a pleasant surprise.

"Say, this Wavemaster you're looking for… would he happen to be a broody kid, about yea tall with silver hair?" Sora asked, gesturing to an indistinct point about halfway between his upper arm and shoulder.

"I'd say that sounds like our guy," Right Hand Knight muttered to Left Hand Knight, who nodded in mute agreement. "Do you happen to know anything about…"

"Really? Thank yooou!" Sora trilled as he leapt a good ten feet straight backwards and another eight to the nearest ledge. There was a pronounced pause before the soldiers started cursing. He knew they'd already lost sight of him and would probably be asking after _him _next, but let them come. They day had not yet dawned when Sora would allow himself to be afraid of even a hundred idiots in bright shiny armor who were too stupid to think to look up, or even side to their sides in most cases. No, all that was important was that his mysterious disappearing Wavemaster and the Knight-killer Extraordinaire (the fact that the knight in question had survived was an inconsequential detail) were one and the same person.

"I just _have _to get someone like that to be my friend," Sora thought aloud, a rather childish grin blossoming across what probably should have been a serious face. How could he help himself? The entire affair just reeked of mystery and secrets… which might lead him to treasure…

_Treasure and fun people to hang around with… _Sora thought blissfully as he looped haphazardly around towards the Chaos Gate. There was someplace he wanted to investigate, and it simply wouldn't do to give those annoying knights an opportunity to report back so that they could do something _really _inconvenient, like barricade the Gate. Because then he'd have to kill some of them, and while he didn't mind the thought of that or the idea of getting in on a piece of the mystifying Tsukasa's infamy, he knew his… investor… might not appreciate that.

* * *

_"__Tsukaaaasaaa__!"_ Mimiru shouted through the deluge, her waving arm illuminated by a brilliant flash of lightning, pulling the boy out of his brooding. He actually blinked in surprise. The freezing cold rain wasn't bothering _him _for some reason, but in all that revealing armor Mimiru must be freezing. And yet, she had still waited for hi- 

Another flash lightning arcing from cloud to cloud instead of hitting the ground lit up the dreary plane once again, revealing the swordsmaster who almost seemed to be stalking him as of late.

"Why is he here?" Tsukasa shouted over the rain as he approached, pointing his staff at the tattooed man in an accusatory manner.

"Bear is here because I asked him to be! It's not like you said I had to come alone in your message!" Mimiru snapped. Or maybe she was just shouting because she didn't think she'd be heard over the downpour.

Lightning turned the world a less oppressive shade of gray, glinting off a rather annoyed pair of clear blue eyes. Yup, Mimiru was definitely snapping at him.

"I can leave if you don't want me here," Bear offered, clearly lying.

"No way, Bear, you're staying as long as you want to," Mimiru protested before Tsukasa could call the older man's bluff, throwing the frail-looking Wavemaster another glare in the gloom between lightning flashes.

The silence stretched out, occasionally punctured by thunder and thrown into painful illumination by the lightning before fading back into blessed obscurity.

"So," Tsukasa said, unsure of what to do next. The Voice hadn't told him what he was supposed to _ask _Mimiru, just that he was supposed to contact her. And, as of yet, she had not contacted him with more instructions… unless the thunder was supposed to be a cryptic message of some sort.

"So," Bear echoed, crossing his arms, clearly waiting for Tsukasa to begin. Something in the mess that had once been his memory hissed at him that that was what was expected of the one who called a meeting.

"So," Mimiru announced in a tone that clearly implied that she was sick of waiting. "Have you finally gotten around to checking the message boards?"

"No. Why should I care?" Was this really all she had to talk about?

"Because the Crimson Knights have increased the bounty on you head from fifty to a hundred thousand gold pieces. Because about ten Wavemasters with pale hair and earth-colored robes have been accosted by bounty hunters, even though only one or two of them bear even a passing resemblance to you. Because that knight that you attacked – and I really do hope it was provoked – finally remembered his fight with you. He managed to choke out the word 'Wavemaster' before remembering the attack sent him into fit of screaming and, eventually, convulsions. They had to knock him unconscious again… you do realize that, at this rate, he might _never _recover?"

"Bear…!" Mimiru gasped, sounding almost scandalized. "Even if that _is _true-"

"You know that my sources are reliable."

"-we still don't know that Tsukasa did anything. It still could have been that damn cat-thing that the Knights are chasing," Mimiru finished angrily, ignoring said Wavemaster in favor of glaring at Bear. So it really wasn't her fault that she missed the way that Tsukasa's eyes went painfully wide and he reeled a step backward in horror.

"I thought that you didn't believe that the cat-creature existe-"

"Is it true?" Tsukasa demanded, drawing both their eyes back to him. "Is that knight really in such bad shape?"

Almost as if the sky had a sense of dramatic irony, a thunderous crack of thunder punctuated his words.

"Tsukasa," Mimiru started as softly as the wind and the rain would allow her to while still being heard by her companions. "You didn't really…"

"No… yes… not really, at least I don't think I did," Tsukasa babbled, all the worry and panic that not even the Voice or his new powers could completely suppress bubbling to the surface as the words poured out of his mouth. "He was trying to kill me!"

Even the suspicious Bear seemed to melt a bit at the young Wavemaster's obvious distress. "Calm down, Tsukasa, and tell us what happened," the older man murmured comfortingly, reaching out a hand and patting the skitterish child on the shoulder. Tsukasa seized up at the contact as some warning bell sounded deep in the roving mess of fragments that had once been his memory. Reflexively he jerked back from the unexpected contact, almost falling in the mud, nearly tripping over his own feet in his need to be _away _from…

…what? What was he so afraid of? Stubbornly, a memory refused to solidify and give the irrational fear some backing, so he swallowed the illogical emotion and snarled, "Don't touch me!" in the coldest voice he could manage.

"Hey! Don't be so rude to Bear when he's just trying to be nice to you!!" Mimiru bellowed in defense of her friend. Tsukasa had to stop himself from letting out a heavy sigh of relief. Apparently he'd managed to fool Mimiru, which was a relief. He didn't think he could stand her babying him the way he was half-sure she would if she found out about that twinge of fear_(-absolute terror, the sure knowledge that what was to follow would be painful, he never touched__ anymore__ unless he was going to-)_

And then the memory was gone again. Tsukasa didn't know whether to be aggravated or relieved. Maybe Macha was right – maybe his lost memories _were_ more trouble than they were worth.

"I'm not offended, Mimiru, I'm just curious…" oh no, that glance Bear was giving him was _far _too insightful for comfort. "…about a lot of things. First of all, one must wonder how you could miss those bounty notices. After all, such a big number tends to catch the eye… if one can read numbers. Or anything at all."

"It's not so uncommon not to know how to read," Tsukasa mumbled before he realized his mistake, and _then _he felt like biting through his own tongue.

"Oh? Perhaps you're right… except, in order to be a Wavemaster in the first place, you have to be able to read the original spells in order to memorize them."

"Maybe I just learned by word of mouth," Tsukasa shot back, privately patting himself on the back for his inventiveness.

"Perhaps you did," Bear acknowledged, drawing his sword and pointing it at Tsukasa. "So? Let's see you cast something."

Tsukasa's hands balled into fists around his staff's glossy handle as yet another peal of thunder shattered the air around them. The game was well and truly up.

"Bear! Put that thing away or _I'm _going to attack you!" Mimiru shouted, smacking his shoulder with a balled fist and drawing a wince out of her companion. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

"Proving your point, Mimiru: that Tsukasa really does have amnesia, and that the Knights are chasing him over something that he really does have no control over," Bear replied, sheathing his weapon. "Furthermore, Tsukasa, if you can't cast spells you can't defend yourself… which brings up the impossibility of how you managed to defeat one of the best swordsmen in the Crimson Knights. And of how you seem to be able to cross entire territories without using a Chaos Gate."

"I… I didn't really do anything," Tsukasa admitted. "Everything I have, was given to me by someone."

"Who?" Bear asked.

"I… don't know. I've never seen her face," Tsukasa admitted, shooting Mimiru a curious look as a flash of lightning coupled with an explosion in the sky made her look almost ashen underneath her tan… and then he remembered. Mimiru had been to the temple before, and the Voice had chased her off, from what little he had gleaned from the encounter. Which meant that he probably shouldn't have said that…

"Tsukasa, please tell me you're not listening to that _crazy voice!_"

* * *

Yeah, I updated. And somewhere in someone's .hack video game, a Grunty died a horrible, painful death by Virus corruption. 

I would tell you that such a horrible update gap will never, ever happen again, but… well… I know me. It can and it will. College and writer's block and all that fun stuff. All I can do is try my best… after all, it's not like I don't know what's going to happen in the end.

Next Chapter: Bear expresses his displeasure at being left out of the loop and Tsukasa suffers an emotional breakdown. As an immediate consequence of this, Mimiru gets to try and find out what sort of biscuits a Gelatinous Guard Dog would like to eat. (yes, I know that this fight should have been in this chapter… but don't you think it's long enough already? I'm TIRED!) And, you know, Sora's off plotting and the Knights are off hunting, and BT is almost well enough go back outside and try and turn her dream of Fried Assassin into a reality. You know, love and fun stuff.

Oh, and before I leave...

Question: How badly is Tsukasa's mind being screwed with by the Voice?

Answer: ...(evil smile)


End file.
